Wines Tasted on November 19th, 2008

1) Chateau de Seuil Graves Blanc 2006, 12.5% ALC, AOC Graves, Bordeaux, France

2) Chateau Les Hauts-Conseillants 2005, 14% ALC, AOC Lalande de Pomerol, Bordeaux, France

3) Chateau de Lescours 2005, 13% ALC, (80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc), AOC Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Bordeaux, France

4) Chateau Merville 2001, 12.5% ALC, AOC Saint-Estephe, Bordeaux, France

5) Chateau Lacoste-Borie 2005, 13% ALC, AOC Pauillac, Bordeaux, France

6) Charmes de Kirwan 2005, 13% ALC, AOC Margaux, Bordeaux, France


Recommendations:

I liked many of these wines. Each had a certain character and was definitely closer to the earth and mineral side of taste rather than the bigger fruit explosions.

1) For those that did not know that good white wines could come from Bordeaux, you should try this one. This wine had such soft vanilla aromas. In the group that tasted with me someone said, "butter cream frosting". I think that is right on the mark. The taste was very pleasant, an easy expression of softer pear with a little lemon zest. It had some nice honeycomb overtones as well. Relaxingly good to drink.

2) Lots of mineral/earthy smells came out of this wine for me. There was a bit of leathery, cedar boxish things going on here. The taste was something to get used to, not in a bad way, but in a way I did not expect. It was smooth up front with most of the taste coming well after the wine had past my lips. The texture was of fine grain sands washing over your tongue, or as one of our group said, "velvet".

4) To me, this is the best wine of the bunch. The nose was so funky that it almost put many of our group out from tasting it. However, when we tasted the wine it showed itself to be complex and elegant. There were some great black cherry and strawberry flavors with length and structure. A really solid and balanced wine.

5) When I tasted this wine I just wanted food. Perhaps that was because it was roughly 7 pm and I had not eaten dinner yet, but this wine made me crave a rosemary lamb stew. This wine was rich, with some dark chocolate and blackberry flavors. The scent was a little hot, reminding me of fresh leather and cassis.